Rwanda: Country Records to Honour Rwandan Music Icon Mariya Yohana

What the report says

Rwandan singer Mariya Yohana will be celebrated at a tribute event in Kigali on November 28, according to The New Times, republished by AllAfrica. The event is being organised by Country Records and will be held at Glimpse Hotel, with organisers expecting about 300 to 350 attendees. It is intended to recognise Yohana’s more than four decades in music and her long-standing public image as a voice for patriotism, unity and reconciliation.

Country Records founder Nduwimana Jean Paul, also known as Noopja, said the tribute is meant to acknowledge the singer’s influence and show appreciation for her work. The programme is expected to include a discussion session in which young musicians can speak with Yohana and learn from her career. The company said it has worked with her for three years through studio services.

Yohana, whose full name is Marie Jeanne Mukankuranga, became known for songs linked to Rwanda’s liberation struggle and later for music promoting hope after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The article says she was born in 1943 in what is now Ngoma district and went into exile in Uganda in 1961. She began composing professionally around 1985 and later received a Liberation Struggle Medal in 2007.

Fellow musicians quoted in the report described her as an important figure in Rwandan traditional music whose songs have continued to influence younger performers. More broadly, the planned tribute reflects how veteran artists can remain central to cultural memory and national identity in Rwanda.